Method of cleaning rugs



Aug; 2}, 1923. 11,465,249

- ,e'. s. BARSUMIAN METHOD OF CLEANING RUGS Filed Oct. 28, 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet J Aug. 21, 11923.

G. S. BARSUMIAN METHOD OF CLEANING RUGS Filed Oct. 28, 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 vation. of an Figure 1.

Patented Aug. 21, 1923;

iaeazia narrative caries GEORGE S. BARSUMIAN, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

ranrncfn or CLEANING BUGS.

Application as October as, 1918. Serial in. 259,969.

To all whom it may concern: V

Be it known that I, Gnonen S. BARsUMI AN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the village of Oak Park, in the county of Cooka-nd the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in' Methods of Cleaning Bugs, of

which the following is a specification, re ference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof. V

.This invention relates to a method of cleaning rugs or other fabricand to means for supporting and handling them during the" process, designed to avoid undue strain orwear on the fabric, It consists in the several steps orEoperations and of the va rious features and elementsof construction hereinafter described and shown in the drawings as indicated by'the claims.

In the drawing-sh Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic eleapparatus embodying this invention. V

Figure 2 is a detail section ona' larger scale taken as indicated at line, 2-2, on

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are diagrammatic'sectional views of the rug s'upporting drum showing the arrangement thereon of various sizes of rugs. '3 Figure 6 is a detail section taken in a plane transverse to the axis of the rug-sup porting drum and showing a fastening device for securing the ends of the rugs to the drum.

Figure 7 is a detail sectiontaken similarly to Figure 6 showing a modified form of false tening means. i f

Figure 8 is a detail section taken similarly to Figures 6 and 7 showing another modifiw cation of the fastening device.

' Figure 9 is a detaihsection illustrating still another alternative form of fastening device.

The method of cleaning rugs which is contemplatedby this invention and which may be applicable to the cleaning of certain other fabrics consists of several stepsor operations, namely, a thorough sweeping of the surface, preferablywithin a housing or enclosure of; some kind for loosening mechanicallyas much of the dirt as sible, second, theremoval of this dirt, preferablyby-the'force of a spray of water directed against the rug and arranged to clear the housing or receptacle of the dirt V and revolved tion, as where the rug is pos-.

thus collected; third, a thorough washing of the fabric with soap and Water, and, if desired, with suitable. chemicals; fourth, a complete rinsing in clear water; fifth, removal of most of the moisture by centrifugal action, the rug being arranged as a cylinder about its axis rapidly, and, finally, the completion of the drying process in a warm dry atmosphere. Ordinary methods now in use involve unnecessarily harsh treatment of the rug surface in the sweeping operation and undue strain upon the fibers, especially in the washing operamerely thrown into a vat or tank of cleaning fluid and agitated therein with resulting creasing and crumpling; and to avoid such undue Wear beginning of the process on a carrier in the form of a drum, 1, securing'the rug right side out'to the cylindrical surface of such drum by any suitable fastening device. Preferably this operation of securing the rugs to the drum, '1, may be performed at some point such as indicated at A in F igure- 1 outside the vat or tank in Which the cleaning operation is to be performed, and the drum may then be moved into such tank as by rolling it upon its projecting journals, 2, along a track, 3, whose folding end portion, 4, will register with a vertically movable section, 5, within the tank or housing, 6. As shown, said tank is provided with side walls hinged at 7 and 8, for folding down to form an opening to admit the drum, 1, and the track sections, 5, of which there is one at each end of the tank are slidably carried for vertical adjustment upon the guides, 9, and arranged to be operated by cables, 10, passing around a suitable windlass, 11. ,At the middle of its length, each section, 5, carries an upwardly-open hearing or cradle, 12', to receive the journals, 2, of the drums, 1, and as shown in Figure 2, upon lowering the drum on its supporting sections, 5, to Working position in the tank, 6, the journal, 2, will come into alignment with a driving shaft, 13, carrying a drive pulley, 14, and a squaresocket in thejournal, 2, indicated at 15, may be operatively engaged by the squared coupling member, 16, which is slidably carried in theshaft, 13.

The hinged side walls, 17, being now closed and power being applied to the pulley, 14;, the drum, 1, is rapidly rotated in the housing and the sweeping operation is carried out by contact of thesurfac'e of the rug, B, on thedrum, 1, with a brush, 18, removably fixed in position extending longitudinally of the drum, as shown in Fig urel and with comparatively longstraws or bristles which are flexible enough to en almost simultaneously downpour of water gage the rug softly rather than harshly. The so-called tank, 6, includes a complete housing for the drum during this operation so that the dust and dirt loosencdfrom the rug by thisYsWeeping is confined to the housing. After a suitable period of this treatment, the dust in suspension in theatmosphere within the housing,6, as well as the dirt which has been merely loosened from the rugs surfacebut notactually re moved therefrom" is collected by a' sudden ina finely divided spray coming through the perforated top wall, 19, of the housing, which forms the bottom wall of a reservoir, 20, of limited capacity having a large supply pipe,"21, leading from an adequate supply of water. It may be understood that no water is admitted to the reservoir, '20, until it is wanted for collecting the dust frointhe interior of. the housing, 6, but that when it is thus needed it issupplied in large quantities and sudden.

ly through the pipe, 21, so that it is immediately distributed over the entire area of the perforated Wall, 19, and thusdescends throughout the chamher, 6., Preferably the rotation of the drum, 1,,is'continued during'this portion of the process to assist the water in removing'the loose dirt particles from the rugs surface and to insure equal treatment for the enthe area. Adrain pipeof large capacity leading from the bottom of the tank, 6, will conduct away the water as fasta-s it enters the tank so that in a few moments there will bear complete flushing of the tank and a c'oinplete removal of all the loose dust and d rt therefrom. Such drain pipe is indicated at 22 in Figure 1, and is provided with any suitable valve or plug, not shown.

Now by shifting the belt upon the cone pulley, i l, or by other suitable means,"the speed of the drum may be reduced for the washing operation and wash water introduced into the lower-portion'of the tank, 6, to some level below that of the hinges,

7, as through the supply pipe, and soap or other washing compound may he introcluced to form the desired cleaning solution.- Then for a suitable period the drum is slowly revolved thus carrying the rug through this washing solution permitting the solution to thoroughly permeate the rug and loosen and remove any remaining dirt therein. At intervals thehingedcover, 17,

or the similar hinged cover, 2 1 at the opposite side of the housing may be opened for inspection of the rug to determine'how long the washing operation shall be continued thereto memes and when it is satisfactorily completed the washing "solution may be drained off hrougli the drain, 22, 'or other similar drain leading. inward to a waste pipe or to a reservoir ll'l'WlllCh tliefwashing solution may be preserved if desired. Clear water is then introduced. as through the supply pipe,

23 and by continued rotation of the .drumin' the tank, 6, the cleaning solution will be gradually rinsed outof' the rug or other fabric being treated andftherrinse water may be drained off as at Obviously the rinsing operation may be repeated one or more, times if desired. If other cleaning,

treatment is desired, a suitable cleaning solution suchas naphtha or gasoline'ma-y be introduced into the tank, 6,; and the drum, 1, revolved to subject the entire surface of the rugto the action of such solution and when such action is complete the solution may be drained off at 22." V

The cleaning operations being completed it-is possible to remove nearly allthe water r other moisture remaining in the body of therug or fabric, 13, by merely revolving the drumnr'apidly in the tank, 6, so that centrifugal force acting upon the liquid will cause it tofly out against the wallsiot the tank, 6, and drain out through the pipe, 22. This will leave only a initiate quantity of moisture remaining in the body of the fabric. Then by operating the-Windlass, 11, the track sections, 5, be elevated to register With the folding end portions, 25, of a track, 26, along which thedrum, 1, resting on its journals, 2, may be rolled into a suitable drying room or compartment at a position indicated at C on Figure 1, where by the action of, heat the slight remain moisture willbeic ompietely evaporated and therug maybe removed from the druiinl, ready for again. v I v I Preferably the rug, B, will be secured to the cylindrical surface of the drum, 1,,by

engagement of its extreme end portions ere,

tending longitudinally of the drum by suitable fastening means gfQl cla "ing these end portions in osition. Necessarily the end portions, 13 willthus covered during the cleaning, operation; they willtherefor'e. be'completely cleaned by hand before the rug is applied to the drum, 1, at A, so that only the exposedarea of the rug. remains to be cleaned when it enters theltank or housing 6. a 1 q 7 I,

I i I V l. v, I l i To avoid any form offasteningjlneans which x'vould'projeot beyond the cylindrical surfaceofthe rug,"B, as applied to the drum involves constructing the drum, 1, with longitudinal grooves and securing thevend portionsetthe rug in such groovesflbelo-w the general cylindrical outline. Su'eh form or fastening device is indicated at'F-igure 6' in which a fragment of the drum is shown 7 130 a series of such reinforcing and supporting circular frames, 27, disposed at intervals along the axis of the drum with clamping bolts, 32, engagin each of such frames, 2?, for distributing the clamping action along the entire length of the drum and adequately securing the end portions, B of the rug between the member, 31, and the surface, 30,

ltmay be noted thatif the circumference of the dru1n, 1, is substantially equal to the length of the rug, both ends of the rug may be secured in the same groove, 23, by the same fastening member, 31, as shown in Figureb and also in Figure 3. If the length of the rug should be somewhat less than tne circumference of the drum separate fastening members, 31, may be employed in separate grooves,as shown in Figure 4; and

1f relatively small rugs are applied to the drum, 1, for cleaning, severalsuch rugs may be assembled on its surface as indicated in Figure 5, a single fa'stening element, 31,

- bein em lo ed for securin the conti uous b b V b ends of adjacent rugs, B and B respectively, while separatefastening means, 31, are used to secure their opposite ends if said ends do not happen to cometo the same groove on the drum. 7

A modified form of fastening means is illustrated in Figure 7 in whic the groove or space between adjacent bars, 33, of the form shown is wide enough to admit two cylindrical clamping bars, 34. The clamping bolts, 35, are quite rigidly guided in long threaded sockets, 36, so that either end, B 'of the rug, B, may be secured inde pendently of the other end as the clamping bar, 34, is pulled down by its bolts, 35, against the surface, 37, of the fixed bars, 33,

-which surface is curved and inclined toward the bolts, 35. In addition to converging toward the bolts, 35, the opposite surfaces, 37, also converge with respect to each other, so that after'each end', B of the rug has been separately secured by one of the clamping bars, 34, any further tightening of the bolts, 35, will cause the bars, 34, to wedge against each other between the opposing surfaces, 33, curity of the fastening. V

Figure 8 shows a rather dlfferent form of securing means which involves forming the fixed longitudinal bars, 38, with oppos- B of the rug B, The clamping device consists of two fiat bars, 40, hinged together at their adjacent edges and operating as a and increase the se-' ing grooves, 39, to receive the end portions,

toggle with their opposite edges forcing the ends, B ,Lof the rug, into the grooves, 39. Clamping bolts, 4'1, distributed at suitable intervals along the hinge axis of the toggle and provided'avith suitable washers, 42, overlying the hinge joints and crowding plates, 43, underlying the toggle tend to straighten out the members, 40, into clamping position In some cases the toggle action may be dispensed with and a. simple holding strip, 44, with a reduced and tapered end portion, 45, maybe inserted longitudinally between the ends, B of the rug for holding them in the grooves, 39, as shown in Figure 9.

It may be understood that thebrush, l8, removably mounted in thehousing, 6, may remain in position if desired during the washing process, or may be removed iinmediately after the sweeping is finished. It may also be understood that, if preferred, the washing solution may remain in the housing, 6, and the drum carrying the rug, B, may be removed to a second tank or housing for the rinsing operation. The centrifugal drying may then be ei-Tected in said secondhousing after draining off the rinse water or by further removal to a third housing or enclosure. This drying opera tion may be carried out without draining off the rinse water fromits container.

Itis a feature of my method that all operations except the final drying are carried on by rotation of the rug-carrying drum within an enclosing housing, but not necessarily within the same housing for all the process. A plant of moderate size, however, will be well equipped if provided with a single tank or housing, 6, in which the different steps or operations are carried on successively, so that asingle machine will thus perform the work for which three or four separate machines are now ordinarily required. Further advantages of the method are that the rug is subjected to no harsh treatment either in the washing process or the removal of the cleaning liquid (which is ordinarily effected by a pressure wringer) and by reason of the uniformity of the treatment over the entire rug surface and especially as the effect of the centrifugal removal of the water the nap is given a much better appearance as well as being more thoroughly cleaned.

I claim:

1. The part of a method of cleaning a rug which consists in feeding its nap surface 7 against and past yielding brushing means ,which consists in feedingits nap surface against and past yielding brushing means for gently removing dust there'lromyconfining such dust to the vicinity of the rug;

collecting the dust by means oi a finely divided shower of liquid released from above the rug and distributed overthe entire transverse area adjacent the same while revolving the rug in cylindrical form about the axis of Such form in the path of the shower for removal of the loosened dust on its surface; and draining away the liquid and dust collected thereby.

The complete method of cleaning a rug which consists in addition tothat set out in claim 1 in moving the rug sl Wly through a path (if-cleansing liquid by revolving it in cylindrical form about the" axis of such cylinder; similarly moving the rug through a rinsing path; drying the rug by-revolv in}; it rapidly about the said axis of its cylindrical form with its nap surface disposed outwardly'to effect centrifugal -i'emoval of the moisture; and finally complet mg the drylng process'in-the presence of a trifugal removal of the moisture and radial I disposal of the nap fibers. V I

In testimony whereof, Z1 have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 23d day of October, 1918. i

GEORGE SQBARSUMIAN; 

